Ask anyone you know who runs a course on career development (including yourself) about the theoretical basis of the course. If they know what it is, take a picture – this is very rare! Most career courses are based on bits and pieces of things borrowed from…wait for it…yes, other career courses, which are full of tips and strategies but not a theoretical throughline. Schlesinger, Vigliani & Sylvestre and others from the Hiatt Career Center in Brandeis University (this is where Abraham Maslow taught) developed a course based on Chaos Career Theory, originally developed by Pryor and Bright. They then tested the degree to which the course improved students’ self-efficacy, specifically career decision self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy is a concept developed by Alberta Bandura from Mundare, Alberta, and it is one of the most studied characteristics in psychology. Self-efficacy is the belief that one can do tasks; career decision self-efficacy is the belief that one can do tasks related to career decisions, such as solve problems and make plans. Both beliefs are extremely important because they connect directly to the ability to cope and to have hope about coping in the future. People often mix up “self-efficacy” and “self-esteem,” but note that thinking one can complete a task (self-efficacy) is very different from feeling good about oneself (self-esteem). Note, too, that one can have high self-efficacy and low self-esteem.
Chaos career theory addresses complexity, change, and chance as key considerations in career development. Australian scholars Pryor and Bright argued that predicting career pathways is impossible because we cannot account for all the complexity involved in the economy and work world, the pace with which change happens in that world, and the random factors that make chance more important than planned events. There are many ways to help individuals navigate in a complex, changing, and chance-filled world (e.g., constructivist counselling, reflective questioning); these methods formed the base of the Career Center course. (Note: The authors provide quite a detailed description of how the course was created and its contents. Readers interested in developing a similar course could save a lot of time by reading it!)
Forty-one undergraduate students, representing gender and ethnicity identity roughly proportionate to the U.S. population, completed one of three offerings of the 6-week course and volunteered to be part of the study. Each completed Betz & Taylor’s Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale.
The main finding of the study was a statistically significant positive change in students’ career decision self-efficacy, with the greatest change being in students’ beliefs they could solve problems and seek alternatives when obstacles emerged. A key takeaway is the kinds of course activities students engaged in likely contributed to the improvement in their perceptions they could tackle the career-related tasks ahead of them. This is an important change: People who do not think they can do something typically either choose to not do it or become unduly stressed at the perception that they cannot cope. People who think they can do something will at least try!
Responses
This article summary made me reflect back to an activity I completed in grade 8 (which was 1997, just to give a time context).
This activity was called the “Real World” and we were broken into groups and given a career card. We also had to make a budget and figure out where we live etc. I remember this game so clearly because I was given the role of a guidance counsellor, which is definitely related to the advising/instructing roles that I find myself in today.
I tried to research this game online and I think I have found the revised digital version that exists today. It is called, “Claim Your Future”, which is a digital tool that helps students explore financial education and career exploration in 15-45 minute games.
I think these short sessions are effective and can help to develop an understanding of careers and how important it is to understand financial demands. This was different than the full-day activities that I engaged in, which may have been boring for some, but clearly, impactful for me because I remember it more than 25 years later.
I couldn’t find what career theory is used, though, I am pretty sure something similar to what was used for the STRONG INTEREST Inventory was used for the program that I engaged in, but I would be interested to learn if it was or if there was another theory that was used.
Did anyone else engage in activities like this? Has anyone used the Claim Your Future program? Let me know and here is the link: https://www.claimyourfuture.org/about-the-game/